Later this month, the United States Men’s National Team will begin its journey through the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. And on Wednesday, we finally got a look at what the team will look like.
One Wednesday afternoon, the USMNT formally announced its 26-man World Cup roster on Twitter, including three goaltenders, seven midfielders, nine defenders and seven forwards, headlined by captain Christian Pulisic.
In list form. 📝
Full Roster Details » https://t.co/bQXU2MSmXh#USMNT x @budweiserusa https://t.co/625oOUeEJb pic.twitter.com/Bd5aQQZ24d
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) November 9, 2022
Following the announcement, USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter released a statement about his roster selections.
“We are excited to take this group to compete in the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” Berhalter said in a statement. “Final roster decisions are always difficult, and we appreciate everyone’s contributions who helped us get to this point. We believe we have a talented group, a strong team spirit, and one that is ready to compete. We are extremely proud and honored to represent the United States and appreciate all the amazing support from our fans as we head to Qatar.”
While most of the team’s stars were included on the World Cup roster, many fans were still upset by a few decisions. Most notably, fans were upset that goalkeeper Zach Steffen and striker Ricardo Pepi were not included on the roster.
clearly I got bamboozled by a fake checkmark where is the real account and graphic with pepi on it https://t.co/JSImxJuWSm
— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) November 9, 2022
Malik Tillman is not the @USMNT roster for the world cup. That certainly wasn't what he imagined when he changed from Germany to USA after they lured him with the world cup. https://t.co/3IuaOEVMLA
— BayernTalente (@CampusVid2) November 9, 2022
Here is the official World Cup roster for the USMNT! Shocked to see Steffen out, and also that Haji Wright made it 😲
Reminder for the schedule for the group stage….
11/21 vs Wales 🏴
11/25 vs England 🏴
11/29 vs Iran 🇮🇷All games are at 2:00 PM ET. https://t.co/DroAjiu2kM
— Jason Inquires (@jasoninquires) November 9, 2022
https://twitter.com/dimibarcellos_/status/1590471113414672384?s=20&t=Wo26UY7z3Qx9cQ76wr4qJg
Starting to feel real that we won’t get far in Qatar because of some of these roster selections who have no business even thinking about the World Cup (although I would love nothing more to be wrong about this) https://t.co/vYTT0riWht
— Guthrie Edson 🍉 @guthrieedson.bsky.social (@EdsonGuthrie) November 9, 2022
It’s starting to feel like you have a really bad manager. https://t.co/Ye7huHFDDn
— Tyler Corbit (@TylerCorbit) November 9, 2022
3 – Ricardo Pepi is the first @USMNT player to score at least 3 times in the final round of World Cup Qualifying but fail to make the final roster since the format was introduced in 1998. Omitted. pic.twitter.com/PNm62rLVvq
— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) November 9, 2022
The team will kick off its World Cup journey with a match against Wales on Monday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m.
[USMNT]
